What The Magic & Rockets Should Do

If I'm Rob Hennigan, I'll proceed and trade Dwight Howard to the Rockets, for a whole lot of young players, before the season starts...Now if I'm Darryl Morey, knowing Dwight won't resign there, I'll deal him to the Nets by the tradind deadline, for Brook Lopez, MarSon Brooks, and etc...Lopez is a better starting option than Asik & Brooks is full of potential...Win, Win, Win, for the Magic, Rockets, and Dwight Howard

If I could trade kevin Martin and some of those power forwards(they have way to many) for Dwight Howard I would..It will get rid of Martin bad contract, move Lamb to your starter and have money in FA to go after Bynum

Hasn't Bynum's camp already said he would be willing to sign an extension with Houston? If they trade for Lopez then they are stuck where they have been in the past few years because they won't be quite good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough to get a high pick in the lottery. I think a 3 way with Bynum is going to be their best bet otherwise they should let the young talent grow instead of paying the max to Lopez.

No offense, but honestly at this point I don't care what happens to Dwight Howard. He made his bed, he has to sleep in it now. I feel bad for Magic fans and everyone whose name has been mention in relation to being dealt for Dwight Howard. I don't see this turning out well for the Magic because most teams aren't dealing their talent for a guy who won't re-sign.

The best trade the Magic have out there is the one nobody sees coming, a trade with a team on the verge of something Big, that jumps in and makes the Magic a strong last second offer at the Trade Deadline...

These are the 3 Teams I feel would take a Risk on renting Dwight Howard for half a season to lure him to stay...He'll have to look around at the available Teams with Cap space and compare their future to that of the team he's traded to...So here are the 3 Dark Horses to trade for Dwight Howard

Portland may have to move some more cash to take on both Howard and Turkoglu, and this is a very risky move to say the least, losing 3 good young players for a half season of Howard and having Hedo on the books for the remaining 2 years of his contract BUT if they're gutsy enough to pull it off a twin Tower lineup of LA and D12 would be extremly deadly, Damien Lilliard would become the key to a Championship, if he's a very very good Pg then that Big 3 could do damage out West, they'd have good role players around them and an Owner that would be willing to spend if he smells a Championship

2. Philadelphia 76ers

(starting offer -Jrue Holiday, Nick Young, Dorrel Wright, Thad Young, Spencer Hawes and 1st round draft picks in 2013 and 2015 for Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard) The 76ers would be given the Magic an entire starting 5 if they so chose, Holiday and Hawes are two very good building blocks at Pg and C, Thad is a sure fire 6th man and could be a potential stud in a new system, Nick Young and Dorrell Wright are both great scorers and are also 10 million dollars worth of expiring contracts, the give the Magic youth up and down the roster along with 2 first round picks in 2013 and 2015, The 76ers would still have plenty of depth and youth on the roster, If Howard were to walk, aside from becoming the biggest Goat in the history of Goats, he'd be walking away from a very young team with a Big 3 of Howard, Iguadola and Turner, they'd have a great head coach and assistant on Team USA Doug Collins, Nelson would be the perfect shooter off double teams and plays created by Iggy and ET, Maurice Harkless and Arnett Moultrie can develop into prime time performers by year 2 or 3 and Allen and Vucevic are ready to play their roles right now, Malik Wayns could learn behind Nelson for the next 3 years...

The Thunder are the closet team to winning a Championship with or without Howard, but imagine if the Thunder offered the Magic a potential stud in PJIII to replace Ryan Anderson, Perkins to replace Dwight and bring in attitude and a hard working mentor to the young bigs and Jackson to provide a spark off the bench and potentially take over at Pg, adding some picks a cash considerations to make it easier for Magic to parts way...This is the worst deal of the bunch but why wouldn't The Magic trade him to anyone but the Nets or Lakers at the deadline, Im sure they'll be as annoyed with them as anyone, I'm sure the Magic would have taken Bynum by now, which leads me to believe they aren't even offering the Magic Bynum at this point, they have to be pushing Gasol on them and that would piss me off if I were the Magic GM, if it was as simple as Bynum for Howard it would be done by now...

Dwight to the Rockets ain't going to happen. I don't mind the OKC idea from LP except that Dwight does not seem to want to play in a smaller market and OKC won't pull off that deal for one playoff run.

I still think the most likely deal will be Dwight to the Nets once Lopez etc becomes tradable again. D12 might be sitting out half the season with "Back Issues". He will not play in Orlando again.

How good is an offer of an under performing Brook Lopez with a Max Contract and Marshon Brooks if he's not playing well behind Joe Johnson(Brooks is a chucker and will not get as many shots now that JJ is on board)

A few Questions ???

How is Brook Lopez that much better than Spencer Hawes who gets paid 13 million over the next 2 years, while Lopez gets paid 13 million per season over the next 5 years...They both bring the smae type of poduction from the same spots on the floor, Lopez is just a better low post player, but they are both soft on the inside and could stand to rebound the ball much better...

How is Marshon Brooks that much better than Nick Young? He's not better now and may never be as good as Nick Young. Nick is at least proven and can score points in bunches on the best teams in the NBA, he did last year with Clippers in the Playoffs, he help them get out the 1st round.

So why not take Holiday(who is a young franchise PG), N.Young, D.Wright, T.Young, Hawes and draft picks for Howard and Nelson?

Why not take a package of Meyers Leonard and Nicolas Batum? J.J Hickson and the draft picks are just icing on that cake, Batum could play Sg or Sf and Leonard would be the C of the future, Hickson would be a nice Pf and could allow the Magic to try and trade Glen Davis or keep both as combo Pf duo...Multiple draft picks from Portland late in the 1st and a few trips to the lottery would get them back on the track...

The differences I see are that Brook Lopez is more athletic than Hawes, but production is similar as you said. I also agree that I wouldn't want Brook Lopez on a max deal with his weak rebounding and coming off a heavy injury season. Marshon Brooks will still be under contract when this season ends while Nick Young will be a free agent. That could be a plus or minus depending on Hennigan's plan. He could clear some cap or he could keep the younger player. Also Nick Young is making more than Marshon Brooks although his contract will be up when the season ends.

If I'm the Magic I would be willing to take the trade you mentioned from Portland, but will Portland be willing to rent Dwight Howard. I doubt it and I doubt Dwight would stay so that probably doesn't happen.

The reason a trade for Dwight still happens despite his PR nightmare is that he's one of the best big men in the league and there aren't that many quality big guys in the legue.

Portland is not going to surrender M. Leonard , Batum, Hickson and picks for a one year rental. Phil is not giving up half their team and picks as well. Other teams are not going to give back much either ...knowing Howard will bolt. So, unless Bynum states he will sign on with Houston ( only way Lakers / Houst /Magic make 3-way) ... the most logical trade would be with the Nets come this Feb. Lopez, Brooks, Picks ( maybe 3 or 4 first rounders) . Brook Lopez is a legit 20 point scorer who is only 24 years old, 7 ft ...and most likely will be improving with time. People are acting like he is a scrub. Is he fair value back for Howard, of course not .... but due to the position Howard has put the Magic in... Brooklyn might be the only team where the Magic can get back some kind of value and maybe shed a few contracts. And please don't want to hear that its not up to Howard... because the ball is in the Magic's court. ( they will make the best deal for themselves and he will go where they want!) B.S. ... NO ONE is going to give the Magic what they want for a disruptive one year rental!

The best trade out there has yet to be put on the table, it's with Atlanta.
Horford, Zaza, Teague, S&T Ivan Johnson & two future 1st rounders to Orlando for Dwight & Big Baby. Then a side trade of Korver (can only be sent out by himself for I think 2 months) for Duhon & Q Richardson. Dwight goes home to ATL with his best friend Josh Smith & other good friends Morrow & Lou Williams and Big Baby comes with him, I think they could convince him to stick around long-term. Orlando gets rid of bad contracts, gets a young stud in Teague, Horford is as dependable as they come and he's locked up for 3 more years. The rest of the contracts provide cap relief.
Atlanta would be set with Harris, Jenkins, Smith, & Dwight. Then Lou, Morrow, Big Baby off the bench. They'd just need to add a SF like a Delfino or Barnes maybe even T-Will and they're right up there in the east.